Document NOqnvNqpJo7mDj2Mmk85M2jV

To At Copies to Subject KA A .V fc> id I )Aps k r\ c i fc nrf k M. Li '. '*ttf * INTER-CKKCS MEiV.^;v.ANDUKl H. G. Dupuis Date April 8, 1974 d/~U, R.H. James G.B. Kirk From AT C.V. Durant JOINT COMPOUND - ASBESTOS Attached is a memo from Dick James requesting that we eliminate asbestos fibers from our joint compound as quickly as possible. In addition, he has enclosed a copy of the Wall Street Journal article which has aggravated his problem there in the North East. Do we have a research program under way to completely eliminate asbestos in joint compound? Perhaps you could respond to James to bring him up to date on work in this direction. Thank you. CVD/i'o KG-0066 To C. V. Durant AT Oakland Date April 5, 1974 cop.EGTo j. h. Watson At ,Del dried subject JOINT COMPOUND - ASBESTOS Attached is a copy of an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal recently. The asbestos fibers in joint compound_products..continues, to affect sales. The label warning of the asbestos content appears to be Worse than the actual material itself. As you can see, everyone is up in arms over this problem. It appears to be extremely serious in New York City. As we sell a large quantity of joint compound to Werner Krebs in the Bronx, who does a lot of work in New York City, this could eventually reduce our pre-mix joint compound sales. If anything can be done to change our formula to eliminate asbestos fibers, I think it should be done as quickly as possible. RHJ:get 4 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Wednesdny, March 27, 1974 Asbestos Danger Is Cited In S-packling Dry IValls Vy a Walk .St/Uist Jouhxai. Staff Itcyorter WASIUKGTON - Materials used to cover seams in dry-wall construction may expose workers to harmful levels of asbestos libers, federal officials warned. . v The .Labor Department said that sparkling and taping compounds often used to cover joints contain asbestos and that workers sandin';' joints smooth before painting may expose themselves to unsafe levels of asbestos fibers in the air. [ , Taping compounds are r.pread over paper tape at joints of interior wall sec tions, are allowed to dry and are sanded before the surfaces arc painted. Spec kling compounds are a plastor-liko ma terial used to fill boles and joints. Tho department's Occupational Safely and Health Administration said employer groups and unions are being asked to alert workers (o the potential hazard. The warning followed an exam ination of 17 members of a New York City painters union local. The examina tion showed the lungs of nine painters had X-ray evidence of fibrosis, or ex cessive secretion build-up in the lungs. Asboslos fibers arc easily inhaled. : Once in Hie lungs, the fitters are coated with a secretion that in sufficient amounts can seriously impair lung ca pacity. Asbestos exposure can also cause lung cancer. ' KAIL-ft GYPSUM COMPANY, NC. INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM 07 to H. C. Dupuis at Oakland Room 2458 date April 19, 1974 Copies to C. V. Durant G. B. Kirk J. H. Watson From \R. at Del an' / SUBJECT JOINT COMPOUND - ASBESTOS In answer to. your memo of April 10, we have found no pre-mix joint compounds in the mid-atlantic that do not contain asbestos fibers* My point was that we are the only people that labe} our cans in such a way as to alarm con tractors, dealers and employees. No one else in the market labels their cans as "efficiently" as we do. We have lost jobs, not because of the asbestos fibers, but because of the label. Hopefully competitive products will be "found out" eventually and they will start to lose business or make changes to compounds without asbestos. My points are: 1. We should either eliminate our strong warning on the cans or be assured our competition will do the same. 2. We should work on a formulation that would eliminate the use of asbestos fibers. RHJ:get